Systemic Risk in Banking after the Great Financial Crisis

Abstract

In this chapter we present a comprehensive review of systemic risk in banking, as the primary ingredient for understanding financial crises that have severe adverse effects on the macroeconomy (such as the Great Depression or the recent Great Financial Crisis). The first part of the chapter develops a conceptual framework that distinguishes three main forms of systemic risk: contagion, aggregate shocks, and the endogenous build-up and unraveling of widespread financial imbalances (such as credit booms leading to debt overhangs). Ex ante (preventive) policies, notably macroprudential regulation and supervision, and ex post (crisis management and resolution) policies to contain systemic risks and financial crises are also discussed. The second and third parts of the chapter review the existing theoretical and empirical literature about systemic risk, using the previously described conceptual framework and making reference to features of the systemic crisis that started in the summer of 2007.